Last week of Summer Mom

Every good summer must come to an end.  It is always so bitter sweet to see the freedom and flexibility of summer wind down, but by August the kids and I are always kind of ready for a little change.  I love my summers with the kids.  I love that I don't have to work and I get to pretend I'm a stay at home mom.  I can play the role pretty well for a little while, but I've learned that too much unstructured time can lead to conflict amongst the troops. There is always that fine line between quality time together and getting sick of each other.  I think we've done pretty well this summer.  

On the agenda for our final weeks of summer were:

A visit to ECHO:

Cally taking notes about butterflies in her notebook

checking out the butterflies

paying attention to details

 The final week of summer always means TREK for John.  He trains 50 leaders for the week leading up to the TREK trips.  This means he's super busy, but it also means that he brings the kids along to hang out with fun college kids.

costumes on for bowling night

 Hiking Mt Abe:
 My dear teaching colleague and friend, Eric Krull and I started hiking together in the summers 15 years ago.  We'd taken some breaks, but try to get out there with the kids when we can.  His girls are lovely and well matched in the hiking arena to Cal and Hazey.  After a big breakfast at their house, we set out to Lincoln Gap to hike Mt. Abe.

Ada and Cally

Exploring the summit with the Krull gals

old friends

newer friends

Very old friends!

Sadly, we returned to my car from a wonderful day of hiking with five amazing kids to find my window smashed and Eric's wallet taken.  Grumble, grumble!  They did not take my bag with my wallet in it, but they did manage to spend $400 on Eric's bank card by noon at a grocery store?!?!?!?

Get Air:

I loathe this place, but it is possibly Hazen's favorite place on earth.  He was very eager to show me the flip he learned how to do at Bumpa and Grandma's.  It helped that Ollie and Maggie were up for the adventure and it helps that it is located a mile from where my car window was getting fixed. 

Basin Harbor 

Four days after spending such a great time with my college friends, one of them wound up staying at a resort 45 minutes from my home.  So, after jumping at Get Air, the kids were thrilled to do a lot of jumping on the floats in the lake down in Ferrisburg.

Pond Time at High Meadow: 

Partial Solar Eclipse:

The kids still have a week of summer left, but I'm back at work.  They are at a great camp this week at a local elementary school and will spend some time with John, our niece Catherine, a babysitter, and friends before school begins.  They are both super fired up for school to begin.